


$5 Flirtation

by YourLocalPriestess



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banter, F/M, and doing boring work day stuff, being miserable in fast food, garrus is a cop bc obviously, it's fast food and they're all suffering, lotssssss of swearing, the usual, they all humans, work au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 14:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12134883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourLocalPriestess/pseuds/YourLocalPriestess
Summary: Cal Shepard has a crush on the cop that keeps coming into her Subway, and honestly? Everyone can shut up about it.





	$5 Flirtation

**Author's Note:**

> For Fanfiction Month Day 28! Prompt: Character Doing Your Real Life Job
> 
> Aka, my badass bbys being boring in a Subway xD I don't work at a Subway any more, but I can't imagine ANY of my characters as a counselor soooo here we are

“If you can’t fucking _rinse_ the fucking _bowl_ , don’t touch my fucking _sink_.”

The new girl’s eyes went wide, her hands stilling where they hovered over Cal’s brand new dish water with a tuna-and-mayonnaise tainted bowl, mere centimeters from the surface.

“Uhhh…”

“Set it down – and walk away,” Cal growled.

The girl ( _Ashley?_ ) placed the bowl into the pile of dirty dishes and backed away slowly, her eyes never leaving the floor.

Cal huffed out her nose and shook her head as she picked up the offending bowl and began rinsing it _properly_ in the _middle sink_.

_Fucking new people, I swear…_

“You know, some people aren’t total assholes to newbies.”

Cal shot Jack a look as she dropped the rinsed bowl into the soapy partition of the sink. Jack was leaning her hip against the prep table, arms crossed over her chest, and fucking smirking.

“Don’t you have a job to do or something? Customers to serve? Bread to bake?”

“Always.” Jack sidled closer, fully grinning now. “But pestering you is much more fun.”

Cal sighed, leaned her head back, and let her hands fall into the water. “Jack. Please. For the love of everything. _Leave me in peace_.”

The girl shrugged one shoulder. “Whatever you say, princess.”

Cal was about to retort when the bell rang, the opening door killing any thought other than the immediate flare of annoyance. She was halfway through thinking of seven different ways to kill whatever customer had just come in when said customer caught her eye as she leaned around Jack to aim her glare more accurately.

The man was talking into his radio, per usual. When he noticed her looking, he grinned and said something she couldn’t hear before pressing a button on the device and silencing it. He was in uniform, again, per usual, and gave her a wave before sinking both hands into his pockets and walking over to the other end of the glass.

Cal was still blinking, processing the fact that Hot Cop had returned again to grace her with his marvelous presence, and not only that, but had _smiled_ and shut off his radio.

Jack turned around with a shit-eating grin on her face. “You know? I think I will leave you alone. You do have an awful lot of dishes to do.”

She began to move toward the front when Cal yanked her back and rushed forward as quietly as possible. She paused at the threshold of back-room vs. customer-zone and took a breath. When she emerged, she was already wearing her customer-ready smile.

“Cal,” he said, his grin crinkling his eyes in a way that made them sparkle in a downright stupid way. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, you know.” She shrugged on shoulder as she slipped on her plastic gloves. “Same old. Living the dream.”

Goddamn if he didn’t look chuffed by that answer. “Glad to hear it.”

She already felt a blush threatening her cheeks and quickly looked at the array of bread in her cabinet. “What’ll it be?”

“Italian, foot long.”

She pulled out one of the fresher loaves, and began to cut it. “Only bread?” she teased, shooting a smirk his way over the glass.

“Not quite,” he chuckled. “BMT, mix cheese, and toasted.”

“Right.” She carried on and they remained in comfortable, damn near companionable, silence, before she was twirling around and sliding the sandwich in the toaster. As it cooked, she rested her hand on the grip and regarded him. “So. How are the mean streets of Presidium?”

His lips quirked in the corners and she almost swore she saw his tongue dart into his cheek for a moment. “Not too bad. Same old, same old.”

“Due solely to your dedication, I’m sure,” she quipped as the toaster beeped. She pulled it out and shot him her most innocent smile. “I’m beginning to think you just perpetually exist in uniform.”

He shook his head. “I’m wounded. I’m like an onion, Cal. Many, many layers to this persona.”

“You did not just make a Shrek reference.” She shook her head at the vegetables and chuckled. “Just…no. What else do you want on this?”

“Lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, and ranch.”

“Why do I even ask at this point?”

“Beats me.”

She bit the inside of her lip as she wrapped and bagged the sandwich. “I’m assuming this is to go?” she asked. She made the mistake of glancing over the kiosk when she did. He was still smiling and just _looking_ at her, and not even in the pervy way. She looked away quickly busied herself; her excuse being that he clearly needed a second round of napkins in his bag.

“To go is fine,” he finally said.

“Okay,” she tapped a button, “swipe whenever you’re ready.”

He did so, a smile still playing at his lips as he did. When he finished, she handed him the bag and was particularly careful to avoiding touching him.

“Have a good day, Garrus” she said, as normally as she could manage with his eyes still rooting her to the spot. “Stay safe out there.”

“You too, Cal. See you soon.” And he gave her one more smile before he walked out the door.

Cal maintained her composure until he pulled out of the otherwise empty lot, then she slumped over the counter and hung her head.

“Have a good dayyyyy,” Jack mocked, her voice coming from directly behind her.

“Shove it,” Cal shot back, turning and nailing her friend in the arm. “I did not sound like that.”

“Sound like what?” the new girl asked, suddenly emerging from the lobby, cleaning tools in hand.

“None of your business,” she snapped.

“Cal’s in looooooove.”

“I hate you.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed about.” Jack picked up a pickle and popped it in her mouth. “He’d be a fiiiine catch.”

“Waggle your eyebrows any harder and they’ll fly right off your face.”

“Ha! I raised them better than that. They’re the strong ones.”

“Whatever,” Cal grumbled, marching back to her dishes. “I’m done with this conversation.”

“You can be done with this conversation, but just remember, dear Garrus will be ‘seeing you soon,’” she shouted after her.

“You are both crazy,” she heard the new girl sigh.

“Definitely,” Jack laughed.

Cal shook her head at the dish in her hands, but said nothing. Any words would betray her as the simpering idiot she was; because in her heart of hearts, she definitely thought “see you soon” couldn’t come soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading you beautiful, precious human bean ^_^ I hope your day is fabulous. Any comments/kudos/what-have-yous are appreciated <3


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